WIMAMP! My favorite audio and video player and it's FREE! for most functions anyway.
WINPLAY 3
Like retro software? have a REALLY old machine? running win 95 or 3.1? I'm sure someone does. In any case, this was one of the first mp3 players I ever played with, and while it has it's limitations, it does play mp3's. It's kinda fun to think about software from way back in the 1990s.
FOR WINDOWS 95
Just click on the player and it will download
WINPLAY 3 32 bit version for WINDOWS 95! (about 144k!). Freeware
FOR WINDOWS 3.1
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD WINPLAY
3 16 BIT VERSION ZIP FILE (about 787k) Freeware
Lately, this is my second favorite player, mainly for it's recording capability of video and audio off sites when it isn't copyright protected. This one is FREE.
MEDIA PLAYER/ENCODER Here's a Link to get Bill's version of his answer to the mp3 revolution, Windows Media.
OGG VORBIS Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source." to quote the web site, which is quite different from the fraunhofer originating mp3 format, which you would think was open source given the availability of utilities to convert wavs to mp3. Will Ogg catch on??? likely not, as it's still not very wide spread. See above for links to download Sonique or the Ogg Vorbis plug in for Winamp.
FLAC Although it is a lesser known format, it is gaining ground in the world of music downloaders and even record companies, as one of the limited edition collectibles was the entire beatles catalogue released on a memory stick in FLAC. One can argue the actual audio quality difference in the end users ears, but for those who really care, it's a freeware optional format to use.
